PLATFORM (Fr. plateforme, i.e. ground

See also:

• PLAN
• PLAN (from Lat. planes, flat)

plan)  , a word now generally confined to a raised flat structure or stage, temporary or permanent, erected in a building or in the open air, from which speeches, addresses, lectures, &c., can be delivered at a public cr other meeting . Similar structures of wood, brick or stone, are used in railway stations at such a level above the rails as to enable passengers to have easy access to the carriages; and in fortification the word is used of the raised level surface on which guns are mounted . The earlier uses of the word, such as for a plane geometrical figure, the ground plan of a building, and figuratively, for a plan, design, scheme, &c., are now obsolete .